Wireless communication is facing an ever increasing thirst for high-quality data transmission. However, this imposes high demands on the radio access networks (RANs), where optical fiber has been widely used for both the backhaul and fronthaul. However, the explosive escalation of wireless tele-traffic tests the limits of the RAN's revenue vs. cost trade-off, which motivates low-cost designs. Hence, we present a cost-efficient but high-performance radio over fiber (RoF)-aided RAN concept. We commence by introducing this motivation, followed by a brief introduction to analog RoF (A-RoF) and digitized RoF (D-RoF), as well as to wireless multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques. Then we present the centralized RAN (C-RAN) concept relying on A-RoF-aid-ed MIMO signal processing, where the MIMO signal is carried by fiber and processed optically in a central unit. Subsequently, we focus our attention on a C-RAN small cell application followed by our performance vs. cost analysis of the A-RoF system compared to that of its baseband counterparts, demonstrating that the A-RoF design is capable of reducing the RAN's total cost while meeting the Third Generation Partnership Proj-ect's requirements.

中文翻译：

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用于高性能低成本无线电接入网的模拟光纤辅助光域MIMO信号处理

无线通信正面临着对高质量数据传输的日益增长的需求。但是，这对无线接入网（RAN）提出了很高的要求，其中光纤已广泛用于回程和前程。但是，无线电信业务的爆炸性增长测试了RAN收入与成本权衡之间的界限，从而激发了低成本设计的动力。因此，我们提出了一种经济高效的高性能无线光纤（RoF）辅助RAN概念。我们首先介绍这种动机，然后简要介绍模拟RoF（A-RoF）和数字化RoF（D-RoF）以及无线多输入多输出（MIMO）技术。然后，我们提出了基于A-RoF辅助的MIMO信号处理的集中式RAN（C-RAN）概念，MIMO信号由光纤承载并在中央单元中进行光学处理。随后，我们将注意力集中在C-RAN小型蜂窝应用上，然后对A-RoF系统与基带同类产品进行性能与成本分析，这表明A-RoF设计能够降低RAN的总量同时满足第三代合作伙伴计划要求的成本。